As you’ve already known that July 1st is the day when the BC provincial government and federal government will combine the 7% provincial sales tax (PST) and the 5% federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) into a 12% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). People here in BC had talked or complained about this new tax a lot since the day it’s announced back in Summer 2009. Now is the time to start preparing for this change, no matter what. As a rule of thumb, the GST rules that now apply to residential property will also apply under the HST. New rules about HST housing rebate: Buyers of new homes will be eligible for a rebate of 71.43% of the provincial portion (7% of the HST’s 12%) of the HST paid on the new home up to a maximum rebate of...

According to The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) latest report, residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,923 in January 2010, an increase of 152.4 per cent compared to January 2009 when 762 sales were recorded and a 23.5 per cent decline compared to the 2,515 sales recorded in December 2009. The news was released lately in VANCOUVER, B.C. on February 2, 2010. In terms of historical perspective, January ranked as an average month for number of residential housing sales over the past decade, with higher sales in January 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 17.2 per cent to $573,241 from $489,007 in January 2009. This price is 0.8 per cent above the previous high point in...